Navy scanners save dollars

For some of the components used on ships and submarines, the US Navy does not always have sufficient documentation from the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) to competitively procure replacement components.

In the past, this meant it needed to purchase replacements from the original manufacturer, which was often very expensive.

Recently, the US Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) has begun using laser scanning to reverse engineer components with complex geometries in order to help out.

A laser scanner captures points at a much faster rate than a coordinate measurement machine (CMM) and also operates without the need for an operator.

‘The time needed to reverse engineer a typical component, including both measurement and modelling time, has been reduced from 100 hours with a CMM to 42 hours with a laser scanner,’ said Patrick Bergan of the NUWC.

'The Navy saved $250,000 by purchasing the first part produced with laser scanning through competitive bidding.'